The criteria aim to characterize/depict the inputs in terms of 3 territories
capable of showing performance and gaps in the present monitoring system, discovery from user point of view, availability as an intrinsic function, and appropriateness related to challenges activities.

A “characteristic” is a distinguishing feature which refers:
• either to a variable derived from the observation, the measurement or the numerical model output of a phenomenon or of an object property in the environment,
• or to the geographical representation of an object on a map (ie a layer such as a protected area, a coastline or wrecks) by a set of vectors (polygon, curve, point) or a raster (a spatial data model that defines space as an array of equally sized cells such as a grid or an image).

A component of a product (« data quality unit » of ISO 19157) is defined by a “combination of a scope and data quality elements” (ISO 19157). The scope “specifies the extent, spatial and/or temporal, and/or common characteristic(s)1 that identify the data on which data quality is to be evaluated” “A data quality element is …a certain aspect of the quality”.
In summary a component is a subset of a dataset to which a set of Quality Measures or descriptive evaluations apply.See DPS definition (Data Product Specifications)

A data is a reinterpretable representation of information in a formalised manner suitable for communication, interpretation or processing (ISO 19115).
A dataset is an identifiable collection of data (ISO 19115). It can be a time series, a lithological description of a marine sample, a gridded dataset such as a DTM, an hydrodynamic model output, a GIS dataset or a feature layer of a GIS dataset, a data base or a table of values in a publication. A data set can be constituted of several files (e.g. the set of seismic data files recorded along the same line).
A collection of datasets is a collection of datasets is a set of datasets.
A dataset series is a collection of datasets sharing the same specifications of production. This is the concept in use on the Inspire Geoportal.

The DPS, Data Product Specifications, is a precise technical description to build the desired (ideal) product in terms of the requirements that it will or may fulfil.
The DPS contains both the specifications of the product and the specification of its quality evaluation. The quality evaluation specifications are grouped by “component”. There is 1 to n “components” by DPS. When there is only one component, the component is the product itself.
The DPS components contain both the specified Quality Measures to apply and the conformance values against which the Quality Measures of the TDP will be compared.
The DPS will be edited in the catalogue of products using the “EMODnet Checkpoint template for Data Product Specifications”.

This concept is introduced to avoid ambiguities when using a characteristic name such as “temperature”. The environment matrix is the environment to which a characteristic is related and defined as: Air, Fresh water, Marine water, Riverbed, Seabed, Biota/Biology, Human activities.

This concept is introduced to avoid ambiguities when using a characteristic name such as “temperature”. The environment matrix is the environment to which a characteristic is related and defined as: Air, Fresh water, Marine water, Riverbed, Seabed, Biota/Biology, Human activities.

A Geographic Information System (GIS), also known as a geospatial information system, is any system for capturing, storing, analyzing and managing data and associated attributes, which are spatially referenced to Earth.

This is the collection of existing data to be input to the Challenges. They are uniquely identified as a combination of (variable, dataset, intended use) or of (geographical feature, dataset, intended use) depending on their nature. They can be shared between challenges.

The product is defined by DG MARE and has to be described by a Challenge according to the specifications of production (see DPS definition).
A product contains as many “components” as the DPS requires unless conditions of production made impossible to create one or several of them.

Stakeholders are individual, group or institutions affected by a project in a positive or negative way, or individual, group or institutions that have an interest (or stake) in the project. They cover a large spectrum from user point of view to provider point of view:
• Policy manager, coordination bodies, member states and funding agencies
• End-users or data consumers from private and public sectors for application development (individual or organized in clusters or community of practices, see challenges representativeness)
• Marine science community
• Sustainable use of ecosystem
• Citizen (mainly coastal), NGOs and wider participatory sciences
• Data provider, data manager, data hosting & primary dissemination infrastructures
• Regional or thematic assembly portals (Inspire infrastructures).